The Good Old Hockey Game
by tru7h nd 0rd3r
Summary: Hinata Sou is in a financial crisis yet again. In order to resolve the crisis, Keitaro and the others are forced to suit up and...play hockey?
1. Chapter 1

**The Good Old Hockey Game**

- - -

**Chapter 1**

Keitaro Urashima tried hard to be an honest person. He certainly did not like to lie, and in particular, to those he cared about. Of course, there was the occasional white lie that he would have to tell, but Keitaro had promised himself to stop. No more – he was going to tell nothing but the truth from now on. Despite whatever situation, whatever reason, or whatever cause, Keitaro would always tell the truth from now on.

"_WHAT?!_"

Keitaro cringed in his chair as he just told the truth to the residents of Hinata Sou. His hand was held carefully onto the large package that rested next to his seat, as though trying to hold onto something to keep himself steady. The air seemed to thicken for a moment in the lobby of the inn as the truth finally made its way out. In the back of Keitaro's mind, he had realized that perhaps telling the truth at this exact moment was a stupid, _stupid_ move.

"Keitaro, explain – now"

Naru's fist was raised and appeared ready to pounce on the unfortunate manager. Keitaro gulped and shrunk into his seat. He knew all too well how strong Naru was, especially when she was angry. Fortunately for him, Aunt Haruka set a hand on Naru's shoulder, prompting the seventeen year-old to back off and let Keitaro finish.

"We're broke…again" Keitaro said rather simply.

There was no other way to actually say it. This was definitely not the first time Hinata Sou was broke. Given how chaotic the financial situation of the inn tends to be, Keitaro would not have been surprised to know this problem was going to occur yet again.

"But…we already paid our rent, didn't we?" Shinobu quietly squeaked, still taking in the new revelation.

"Urashima, you must have been _misusing_ our funds!" Motoko screamed, ready to draw her katana in a moment's notice on the poor apartment manager.

Luckily for Keitaro, Haruka and Naru were quickly onto Motoko and had barely held off the samurai from beheading Keitaro at that moment. While they did so, Keitaro carefully planned his next set of moves. The entire situation was still fresh on him, and the solution he was already forced into was sure to raise some havoc amongst the residents. He had better start thinking of a way to tell them.

"But how can we be broke?! We did pay our bills, right Keitaro?" Naru asked, as Motoko finally calmed down and returned to her seat.

"Think about it for a minute," Haruka said in a calm voice. "Think about what you guys have been doing the past few weeks."

Haruka then lifted up a hand and began counting off with each finger.

"Party, party, party…one after the other. Just like last time, actually."

"Well then, isn't it simple?" Motoko said in a much calmer voice. "We all need to get part-time jobs and repay our debt, like last time."

Keitaro fidgeted in his seat yet again as Motoko made her suggestion.

"It's…not like last time."

Taking a deep breath, Keitaro recalled the number.

"We need about 750 000 yen."

There was a distinct pause as the number registered with the other boarders of Hinata Sou. Keitaro could have sworn he could hear a pin drop with this level of silence. Inside, he braced himself. It was not everyday they needed 750 000 yen to pay for the total bills, and as such, the potential response from either Naru or Motoko would require him to hold on for dear life.

Strangely, it never came.

"Wait, how're we short 750 000 yen?" Kitsune asked, breaking the silence.

There was no answer. Instead, everybody in the lobby merely looked at their resident foxy girl with rather disbelieving and irritated glares. It took Kitsune a moment to realize why they were looking at her like that.

"Oh right…c'mon, I thought Neverquest was gonna to win! I could have won back everything!" Kitsune tried desperately to explain her motives for betting on horse races and losing yet again.

If not for the limitations of physical reality, the moment after Kitsune answered would have warranted for a perfectly executed face fault by the residents.

"Well, there's a bit more, actually…" Keitaro continued on, his voice suddenly quieting down a bit just after.

All eyes then turned towards Su. The young foreigner looked to and from the other residents, somewhat unaware of how she was related to Hinata Sou's money problems.

"Huh, what did I do?" Su asked innocently.

"Do you remember your Mecha-Tama?" Haruka asked.

Su scratched the bottom of her chin for a moment, trying to recall what the other residents were referring to.

"The one that _demolished_ part of the inn?" Naru added, speeding up Su's thinking process a bit.

"Oh…right." Su innocently scratched the back of her head, as though nothing was wrong.

Somehow, Keitaro could sympathize with Su. The young girl was always so active and was always on the verge of doing something new and out of insanity, he supposed she could potentially forget events of the past while or so.

But how could Su forget her invention tearing through part of the inn and later self-destructing?

"Is there anything else we need to owe money for?" Naru asked.

"…no…."

Keitaro tried to keep his voice steady, but Naru in particular had caught on. She knew he was hiding something. Eventually, the others caught on as well. Looking around uneasily, Keitaro realized how much of a hot seat he was in.

"Uh…say, Narusegawa, do you remember that…incident we had while the construction crews were doing the repairs?"

It was difficult to tell, but Keitaro could have sworn he could see a vein on Naru's forehead begin to pulsate. Of course she would remember, and of course, everybody else would remember just as well. Who would not remember when Keitaro, in a usual fit of bad luck, walked in on Naru changing for the umpteenth time?

"Get to the point."

"…we had to pay for that as well" Keitaro said nervously, trying not to enrage Naru yet again.

"H-h-h-how do we get 750 000 yen?" Shinobu asked in a quiet, nervous voice.

"Well…uh…" Keitaro stuttered and found he was unable to speak. It just happened to be where the conversation would be the hardest to get into.

His delaying caught the attentions of Haruka, who already knew what the solution was, much to her chagrin. In particular, Naru and Motoko could have easily guessed that Keitaro knew something else and was reluctant to say it.

"Yes, Keitaro? You were saying?" Naru said. Her voice was slow and carefully paced, as though in an attempt to restrain herself from sending Keitaro into orbit.

"Well…I talked to the service providers…and I…I…" Keitaro swallowed once, and hoped he would make it out alive after this. "I…made a deal with them."

Another lapse of uncomfortable silence fell over the residents of Hinata Sou yet again. Keitaro could feel the sweat slowly drip down his back. The tension in the air was thick and suffocating. Time passed on, and seconds slowly began to feel like minutes as the silence remained. It was then interrupted by a single, slightly out-of-place, voice from the residents.

"Wait, let me guess." Kitsune, Hinata Sou's resident fox spoke up. Keitaro wasn't sure whether Kitsune's tone of voice was merely joking or anticipative. "We're gonna start a harem?"

"_URASHIMA!_"

"_Keitaro, you little-!_"

The tension dropped out of the air and in its place came nothing less than unbridled and unmatchable rage.

Naru and Motoko were quickly onto Keitaro. All the while, Haruka watched on, apparently not surprised at what was happening. Kitsune sat in her seat imagining how a Hinata Sou harem would perhaps function, Shinobu flushed bright scarlet at what being in a harem would possibly mean, while Su stood about wondering what a 'harem' was and whether it was tasty.

"That's enough." A pair of hands held Naru and Motoko back from murdering Keitaro. Shortly after, Haruka stepped in and prompted order from the residents.

"We're not doing a harem" Haruka said firmly, to put to rest the girls' suspicions.

"Then what's going to happen?!" Naru demanded. "We're short 750 000 yen, and we can't pay it back! What're we going do?!"

"I'll let Keitaro explain it," Haruka said, referring over to her nephew. "To be honest, the idea's crazy, but I think only he can explain it."

Haruka backed off, leaving the girls to wonder what Haruka meant and what she possibly knew beforehand, and leaving Keitaro to stand up from his seat. He turned his attention over to the large package that sat next to him. Despite the size of the package, it was completely ignored by the residents as soon as Keitaro had mentioned about their financial situation moment ago. Keitaro slowly began to unzip and open the large package. The package itself was more of a bag, complete with large and durable handles and curiously marked with a symbol of an athletics company on the side.

"I talked to the service providers, and they said they were willing to pay the costs for our bills," Keitaro began to explain while he continued and struggled on-and-off to open up more of the bag. His mentions of how willing the service providers were to offer such charity was music to the ears of the residents, but even they could not help but wonder if such a gift came with a price.

"What's the catch?" Naru asked.

"Well…they said they all have investments in something, and they're putting a lot of money into it," Keitaro continued, holding his voice together surprisingly well for somebody so nervous. "They want us to join something they're investing. If we do that, they will pay for all our bills themselves, and even pay for us to take part in their investment."

Keitaro finally managed to yank the last bit of the zipper open. As he did so, Naru stepped forward, intent to knowing just what their service providers were planning.

"Keitaro…what do they want us to do?"

The manager of Hinata Sou said nothing. He merely turned around to face the residents with the large bag in his hands. Turning it over, he emptied out the contents onto the ground in a disorganized clatter. With the exception of Haruka, who Keitaro had informed earlier regarding what was going to happen, everybody in the lobby wore identical faces of shock as they realized just what had fallen out of the large bag.

Hockey sticks, skates, and pucks.

- - -

Note:

(cackles madly)

It was only a matter of time, really. The hockey nut in me demanded it, and I delivered it.

The idea began awhile back during the NHL regular season. I'll explain - I live in Calgary, as I've stated in my bio, and I am a Calgary Flames fan. I'm not quite sure, but I believe the constant exposure to hockey mixed in with my fanfiction writing, and since I had gotten head-first into Love Hina at the time and was still in the process of thinking and writing then...Love Hina and hockey converged.

Therefore...this. I've seen crackfics and I've seen and thought up some weird ideas before but hockey and Love Hina? I love it.

I'm still ironing out some of the ideas for this one. I've got most of the roster already set in place and I've determined generally what's going to happen over time. I have a few good ideas of how games will go and some of the various 'incidents' that will occur in certain games (come on, it's the Love Hina cast - think of what can possibly go right?), but actually writing them may pose a challenge. Of course, this is my truly original idea, so I definitely want to write it.

As for my other fics...as far as I'm concerned, I just want to write. Anything. Progress is coming along gradually, but usual lulls in my writing process, as well as with second thoughts and reconsiderations have made it hard to continue. I'm not axing any of my fics - I just need some time off, I guess, and an idea that my mind likes at the moment in order to write the best. At the time of writing this, I'm pretty much done high school, so I actually have time to write until university.

So, if I'm lucky, I might actually get around to updating some of my other fics, assuming nothing terrible happens to me between now and whenever.

Ah well, I can only hope for the best for myself...but more so for the team (...just had to add that). 'Til whenever, I guess...

-June 25, 2007


	2. Chapter 2

**The Good Old Hockey Game**

**- - -**

Note: Before I start this chapter, I will like to warn the reader – leave realism and logic in the backseat for a bit, because bringing them in while reading this chapter will only make it difficult for both you and me.

I'll explain in detail at the end of the chapter, but just keep it in mind while reading.

- - -

**Chapter 2**

"Could somebody explain this whole thing to me, this…_tournament_? What's going on with it?" Naru asked as she looked over the small pamphlet Keitaro gave given to her and the other residents a day prior.

"It's called the Iwasaki International Ice Hockey Tournament, or simply, the Tournament, or even, The League" Haruka explained.

"I think I've heard about it," Kitsune said. "It's a new hockey…thing, right? I was about to put some money down on it."

Walking into the skating rink, the residents felt a sudden gust of cold pass by them as they entered the large structure. The temperature of the building was at a contrast to the relatively nice weather outside, no doubt due to the large sheet of ice separated from the long rows of seats by the boards. Everything about the rink felt strange and different – it was cold inside, and it smelled like water, only, the water was frozen into a clean and slick surface.

Looking at the enormous ice rink in front of him, Keitaro could not help but feel belittled. It was definitely much larger than what the pictures made it to be. Worse, the ice definitely had to be slipperier than what Keitaro was thinking.

"It's a small, international tournament being run by a company called Iwasaki International," Haruka explained as the residents entered the skating rink. "They own our service providers and they're hoping to encourage hockey in Japan and bring in investments from the markets in North America. There's a bit of money to be made, actually, so they've started this tournament to encourage it."

Upon entering, Haruka lit up a cigarette. The sudden flare from her lighter provided a brief moment of warmth to those standing closest to Haruka.

"From what I've been reading, the tournament's different from the Japan Ice Hockey League. It's more just a set of exhibition games." Haruka plucked the pamphlet from Naru and skimmed over it. "They're allowing both domestic and foreign teams to compete openly here, as well as a wider variety of players of age and gender. And from what Keitaro's told me, the team sign-ups were full until a week ago when somebody dropped out, and since the investors are desperate for a team to join and for the games to begin, we're in."

As the group walked along, they eventually made their way down to the front-most rows of seats. The younger residents peered through the boards at the surface of ice in front of them in amazement.

"Here's the deal: we form a team and join the tournament and play, and in turn, Iwasaki International will pay for our equipment and general expenses. If we do that, they'll get our service providers to ignore our debt and let us go free. The grand prize at the end of the tournament is a million dollars US, but all we need to do at the moment is just play the game."

Keitaro laughed a bit, albeit, uneasily. "Well, we'll be fine."

"Keitaro, are you sure we can do this?" Naru asked, turning her attention from the ice to Keitaro. "None of us have ever played hockey before."

"I don't think we even have a choice." Keitaro looked towards the ice, somewhat unsure of their chances. Naru was right – none of them knew how to play hockey. Worse, how many of them even knew how to skate?

"But we've got to try, right?" he said optimistically. "We can help the inn if we do this – all we need to do learn how to play the game and do our best."

Keitaro smiled at Naru, having enough faith in her and the residents that they could perhaps stand a chance playing the sport. Standing behind the two, Haruka read the pamphlet carefully before speaking up.

"Can doing our best help us against foreign hockey players?"

Haruka handed Keitaro the pamphlet and pointed towards four pictures. In each picture sat an entire hockey team, assembled on ice with their gear fully equipped and ready and with their coaching staff standing by. Looking at them, Keitaro could not help but realize how professional the teams appeared.

"The Hamilton Steelheads and the Albany Aeros, from Hamilton, Canada, and Albany, New York," Haruka explained further. "Both teams are from the Eastern Collegiate Ice Hockey Association in North America. There's also a team from Finland and a team from Russia – both those are big hockey countries. And besides all of those, there are also a few European and North American hockey players on the Japanese teams. And of course, don't forget, the Japanese players aren't pushovers either."

Upon hearing Haruka, Keitaro felt his heart sink slightly. Hockey was a popular sport over in North America and Europe – to have not one, but _four_ teams and a few players from those areas such as those would make the competition in the league quite vicious. Even if the tournament didn't include foreign teams, there were still the Japanese teams.

"But, we've got to try, right?" Despite the revelation, Keitaro again remained confident.

And in particular, despite the fact that they were probably going to go up against several well-trained hockey teams, Keitaro had a rather sickening feeling that they did not have much in the way of choice. It was either try and play the game, or be faced with eviction.

"I agree, but there is still one problem," Motoko said. "Can any of us even skate?"

"Actually, we're okay there," Keitaro replied rather weakly. "You see, I used to do a bit of skating."

Naru and Kitsune stared at Keitaro for a second. They tried to imagine for a second the image of Keitaro on skates. It wasn't long before they burst into laughter.

"_You_, skating?! That's…that's…" Naru did her best to control herself, but it was almost too funny for the Tokyo University hopeful.

"…can we _not _do the hockey thing?" Kitsune asked, between chokes of laughter. "I think Keitaro can do a pretty good job with in stand-up. We wouldn't even have to do anything!"

"What? Come on, it's not that funny. I did a bit of skating when I was younger," Keitaro said. He then quickly recalled a distant memory from within his family. "Besides, Haruka used to _figure_-oof!"

Keitaro's sentence was cut short by a sudden whack to the back of his head by Haruka. She then brought Keitaro in and whispered murderously into his ear.

"…one more word and your head goes through the ice and stays there, understood?"

Haruka then released Keitaro before continuing where her nephew had left off. Much to Keitaro's disbelief, the residents listened on as though his mentioning meant nothing.

"I think I'm qualified enough to teach skating, and hopefully, so is Keitaro. Also, we've called in for some help, both with skating and hockey."

As Haruka butted out her cigarette and prepared to get her skates on, the residents were left to ponder what she meant by calling for help.

"Well, Seta did say that he and Sarah were on their way here, but it'll take them awhile," Keitaro said. "So in the meantime, some friends of mine said they'll drop by and give us a hand with the skating."

"Wait, which _friends_?" Naru asked suspiciously.

Before Keitaro could answer, the doors opened and footsteps echoed as a pair of young men entered. Looking towards them, the residents of Hinata Sou were shocked – and somewhat appalled, even – as they realized who Keitaro's 'friends' were. Worse, they realized each of them had a pair of skates that they appeared comfortable with.

"Hey, Keitaro!"

"Keitaro, we got here as soon as we…Haruka-san!"

The residents stared on disbelief as Shirai Kimiaki and Haitani Masayuki – the last two in a bespectacled trio, walked into the rink.

"You're kidding me, right?" Naru's opinion was delivered rather bluntly.

"So, when do we start?" Haitani asked, as he prepared to lace up his skates.

A long lapse of silence fell over the residents as they wondered for themselves whether or not this was one big joke. Sadly, the way Shirai and Haitani laced up their skates only proved the worse.

"Don't worry, Haitani and I used to skate when we were younger," Shirai said as he laced up his skates. "Keitaro joined us a bit later, so with all three of us, you're all in good hands."

"Wait, let me guess…" Kitsune said, close to breaking out in laughter yet again. "You two used to compete in doubles tournaments?"

"Oh, yeah, we were pretty good back then so…" Haitani started, but stopped as he realized what Kitsune had just asked, and what he had just said.

The silenced turned to laughter once again from the residents of Hinata Sou, much to the discomfort of Shirai and Haitani.

"Please tell me this is a nothing more than some cruel joke" Motoko said, rather annoyed.

"In a way, I only wish it was," Haruka commented as she finished lacing up her skates. "But, it isn't and this just happens to be the best option we've got for now."

Opening up the sports bag once again, Keitaro and Haruka brought out the skates and passed them around for the residents. In addition, the hockey sticks and padding were also taken out, to be used later.

"Okay…we shouldn't have too many problems with putting the skates _on_, right?" Haitani said, checking his laces once over just to be sure.

Not surprisingly, it was done with relatively ease. Of course, putting on skates couldn't be _that _hard, the last Keitaro remembered. Shinobu had some minor difficulties lacing her skates up tightly enough, but overall, it was a quick and so far painless process.

"Hey, these fit pretty good!" Kitsune commented as she lifted her foot up.

"It feels a little weird," Naru said as she stood up, taking a moment to adapt to get used to standing on the blades. "It's a good fit."

Looking down from her skates and up at Keitaro, her eyes suddenly narrowed as a thought passed her mind.

"Wait, how do the companies know our sizes?" she asked Keitaro rather menacingly.

"Uh…" Keitaro stammered for a second, much to Naru and Motoko's discomfort. For a second, Keitaro had to wonder which was worse – the fact he gave the service providers the girls' sizes, or the fact that he actually _knew_ their sizes?

"Come on, let's get moving. We'll worry about that stuff later," Haruka said as she prepared to get out onto the ice.

"We'll start by getting out onto the ice first, just to get a good feel for it. Take it slow, and focus on trying to balance."

Haruka opened the door and skated out onto the ice with surprising ease. She stopped at centre ice and turned to face the residents. Following her was Shirai and Haitani. The bespectacled pair skated onto the ice just as neatly as Haruka did.

Keitaro checked his skates once more and stepped out onto the ice. The sudden loss of traction almost scared him the moment his skate touched the ice. It was a long time since he last skated. Pushing himself off from the player's bench, Keitaro glided out onto the ice. He almost fell as he stopped, but recovered quickly.

It really was a long time since he had last skated.

"It doesn't look that hard" Su commented in bore as she watched.

"Who's going first?" Motoko asked.

"I'll go" Naru said as she waddled over to the opened door.

Motoko lined herself up behind Naru, as did Kitsune, Shinobu, and Su. With an awkward step and push onto the ice, Naru slid out towards Keitaro and the others. Her movements were stiff and cautious as she tried to maintain her balance. As Naru went out onto the ice, Motoko slowly followed suit.

"Hey, what'd you know? It's not that ba-AHH!"

Naru suddenly slipped. Her feet shot up into the air as she lost her footing and fell. As she did, she fell against Motoko, and the two dropped to the ice in a twisted and screaming pile. At the door just inches from setting foot on the ice, Kitsune stopped and watched, unsure whether she should be laughing or observing in horror as Naru and Motoko struggled to get back to their feet following their rather chaotic fall.

Kitsune then brought her foot back and stepped away shaking her head, certainly not eager to test her luck with the ice. Shinobu watched on in concern for Naru and Motoko, while Su looked on, generally indifferent.

Naru and Motoko had gotten roughly five feet out onto the ice before they both fell. As Haruka, Shirai, and Haitani skated forward and tried to help the two young women to their feet, Keitaro couldn't help but wonder how they were going to teach the girls how to skate.

- - -

It was a long three hours after they had all first set foot on the ice. Haruka had helped with teaching the girls how to balance themselves on the ice, as did Keitaro, Shirai, and Haitani. After getting the basics of standing and balancing on ice, it was now onto the actual skating itself.

"Okay…" Naru glided down the ice, turned, and skated back around under the watchful eye of Keitaro.

After shrugging off her initial fall with curses and swears, Naru was getting better and better at skating. Her movements were still far from graceful, but Naru was skating with ease now, and Keitaro figured it wouldn't be much longer before she would start picking up speed.

"Alright, I think I've got the hang of this" Naru said happily as she turned to face Keitaro while gliding backwards. She tried turning back around.

Suddenly, Naru lost her footing. She teetered for a moment and fought to regain balance. She was in danger of falling.

"Narusegawa!" Keitaro broke towards Naru and managed to grab hold of her from behind before she would fall.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he brought Naru in close to keep her balanced.

"I…I guess so…wait a minute…"

Keitaro was about to ask what was wrong, but he suddenly realized it. His hands were grasping a pair of soft and rather well shaped items. It didn't take long before both Keitaro and Naru realized what was going on.

"Nice work, Keitaro! Never knew you had it in you!" Kitsune cheered as she skated by.

"Keitaro, what the _hell_ do you think you're doing?!" Naru broke off and wound back her fist.

Her punch sent Keitaro flying down the ice. Strangely enough, the unfortunate ronin hit the boards, rebounded, and ended up sliding back out to a pouting Naru, face first on the ice. All the while, the other residents watched on in rather tired curiosity over a familiar scene.

About an hour after Naru sent Keitaro flying, Naru was skating with greater speed and confidence than initially. Luckily for Keitaro, it meant her falling less and therefore no embarrassing situations that would result in him being pummelled.

Down at the other end of the ice, Shinobu skated around in large, graceful circles. Keitaro and Naru came closer, watching as the thirteen year-old glided around the ice with a noticeable degree of comfort and skill. Twisting and turning, reversing from forward and backwards and back again, she picked up speed, and even succeeded in attempting a tiny jump.

It was enough to draw claps from Keitaro and Naru, much to the embarrassment of Shinobu.

"Wow, you're really good, Shinobu!" Naru complimented.

"Seriously, you're good. Did you use to skate?" Keitaro asked.

Shinobu blushed a bit as she nervously scratched the back of her head.

"…I used to. My parents used to take me skating with them when I was younger," Shinobu said quietly and timidly, amidst a reminiscing smile. "I never went again, ever since they…separated."

Shinobu's smile slowly faded as she recalled the memories of her parents' divorce.

"And I'm not that good. I still fall a lot."

Less than a second after Shinobu spoke, Su literally came sliding in. The young foreigner grappled onto Shinobu and smiled brightly.

"Do not worry Shinomu - I've got the perfect solution for that!"

Su then held up a skate, revealing a series of devices attached to the sides, all bearing the mad scientist's personal three-eyed Molmol logo.

"Having problems skating and balancing? My Nike-kun's will help you! They're fitted with mini retrorockets and will automatically fire in order to keep your balance and give you greater speed and manoeuvrability on ice! Here, watch!"

Su activated the retrorockets and began moving. As she did, she sped up and practically flew along the ice from one end of the boards to the other. All the while, she periodically leapt through the air with long and graceful spins and jumps, landing perfectly amidst perfectly executed spins and turns that would have boggled even professional figure skaters.

"See? With these babies, those lumberjacks on skates can't touch us!"

Keitaro, Naru, and Shinobu stared at Su in silence. Of all the questions Keitaro could have wondered about, he wondered how Su could have possibly pieced together such a device on such short notice. Then again, considering what the little girl has done in the past, Keitaro figured it wouldn't be completely out of the question.

"Uh, Su? I don't think those are even allowed" he finally said after a long pause.

"…why not?" the young foreigner asked rather innocently, amidst trying to drag an unwilling Shinobu with her on another high speed, gravity defying tour of the rink.

Scratching the side of his head for a second, Keitaro tried his best to explain, arguing on behalf of various items that included, for example, fair play. After all, retrorocket equipped ice skates were unfair, at least, according to Keitaro's mindset.

"What's 'fair play'? Is it tasty?"

"Su, you can't have those on your skates, period." Haruka's statement was firm and straight to the point as she skated towards her.

"Aw, poop." Su grudgingly removed the attachments from her skates and resumed skating, without her invention.

Su glided softly along the surface of the ice in a directionless and partially controlled…Keitaro tried to find a word to describe it, but as he watched on, he couldn't help but wonder what Su was doing. She was doing a wonderful job of maintaining her balance – perhaps far better than anybody else on the ice – but there was something about the way she moved.

The young girl simply circled around and around in place as she continued moving forward, occasionally changing and moving in different directions. Su smiled and laughed with glee – she was clearly having fun. Keitaro, along with Naru, Shinobu, and Haruka, however, watched on in bewilderment. It was as though the edges of Su's skates weren't even touching or in contact with the ice. It was as though she was simply slipping around on the surface.

"Wait a second, hold on."

Shirai and Haitani came by towards Su and stopped her for a second. They lifted her skate up, and Haitani ran his fingertip up along the edge of her skate.

"…there's tape on her skates."

As the group crowded in closely, Keitaro realized it was true. There was a strip of scotch tape on the bottoms of Su's ice skates. Looking and feeling the edge of the skate just to make sure, Keitaro couldn't help but remember something like this.

"Hey, didn't we do something like this to Keitaro a few years back?" Haitani asked Shirai.

It took Shirai a moment before he remembered. "Yeah, the Bambi trick!"

"…the what?" Naru asked.

"The Bambi trick," Haitani explained. "You put scotch tape on the bottom of somebody's skates, so when they go out onto the ice, they'll slip and fall. When they fall, they get back up, fall again, and it happens all over, you know, like that scene from Bambi?"

A humoured and somewhat enthralled chuckle went out amongst the residents who knew what the bespectacled pair was referring to. Keitaro knew all too well – Shirai and Haitani had done the prank to him years ago. The tape rendered his skates useless and left him flopping around the ice for a good fifteen minutes, until the pair had notified him.

"Hold on, did you two…" Naru menacingly asked.

"Hey, we had nothing to do with this!" Haitani frantically tried to defend himself.

"But how did tape end up on Su-chan's skates?" Shinobu asked.

While the others talked about that, Keitaro realized what he had just seen before. Su was still standing and moving around on the ice, even with the tape on the bottom of her skates. The real question they should have been asking – just how was Su still able to remain on her feet?

Moments later, they removed the tape from Su's skates and allowed her to resume skating.

"Is it that hard to skate?" she asked while skating in a set of quick and complicated patterns and alternating directions and facing. "It feels so…easy. Could you put the tape back? It was more fun with those."

All the while, the residents watched on, somewhat in disbelief over how well Su was skating. Somehow, Keitaro wasn't surprised. He though back to Su's jungle-like room, and the amount of time she spent amongst her trees and leaping from one to the other. She had to have, at least, an extremely well developed sense of balance and control.

Keitaro continued to watch Su. The young foreigner was literally tap-dancing on ice, while skating backwards, in a tight figure 8. He couldn't help but wonder what will happen when they give her a hockey stick.

- - -

"Hey, I'm getting good at this," Kitsune commented as she skated around Keitaro. "After this, we should bust out the drinks and party! We did pretty good today, and I think we all deserve a reward."

Keitaro nervously laughed at her suggestion. Come to think about it, wasn't it their partying that got them in the financial probelm they were currently in?

"While we're on the subject of drinking, Kitsune," Haruka started as she skated towards her, having overheard what she had said. "There will be no drinking from here on. The rules of the tournament state that playing under the influence of alcohol or narcotics is punishable by suspension. Since we'll need everybody in order to play the game, you can't drink and it's best to start now to get used to it."

Kitsune's normally half-opened, half-closed eyes – an almost trademarked symbol of her laidback nature – were suddenly wide and filled with an uncharacteristic shock.

"Wait, what?! B-b-but that's not fair! You're tellin' me I _have_ to go without my _sake_ from now on?! T-t-that's stupid! Some people actually _need_ sake! I _need_ my sake!"

Haruka nodded. "It's the rules, Kitsune. I don't make them, but we have to follow them. I'm sorry, but it's for the better."

The fox pouted as the skating practise continued under Keitaro's watchful eye. Kitsune wasn't that bad, actually. Her strides were more graceful than Naru's, and her overall ability was okay.

"You're doing just fine, Kitsune!" Keitaro said as she skated further away, building up some speed in the process.

Suddenly, she lost her footing. Before Keitaro could realize fully what was happening, Kitsune had fallen. In a panic, he rushed over to where she fell. She moved very little, much to Keitaro's worry. She had hit the ice pretty hard, as it would appear.

"Kitsune?" Kitsune!" Keitaro knelt down next to her, but wasn't sure what to do.

Naru came in and helped to roll Kitsune over on her back. The foxy girl looked dazed and confused, as though struggling to tell up from down.

"Kitsune?" Naru asked softly, fear for the worse. "Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"

Naru held up four fingers. Kitsune looked at it for a moment before she slurred a number.

"Three?"

Looking at Keitaro with a face of worry, she motioned him to help lift Kitsune. They then slowly helped Kitsune over to the players' box, while Haruka and the other gathered around.

"Kitsune's hurt!" Naru screamed as she and Keitaro gently sat Kitsune down on a bench.

"Are you okay, Kitsune?" Keitaro asked. "Can you move?"

"…so…much…_pain…_" Kitsune said, groaning in agony.

Naru got back into the ice and skated off towards Haruka. "Wait here, I'll get the first aid kit!"

As Naru sped off, Keitaro looked back towards Kitsune. Where was she hurt? It looked as though she was favouring her chest, but on the other hand, it didn't. She reached a hand into her coat and fumbled to reach for something.

"…need…_sake_…"

Before Keitaro could even make out the last word, Kitsune produced a small flask and took a long gulp of its alcoholic contents. As she finished, she seemed to return to normal, leaning back on the bench and stretching in pleasure. It didn't take long for Keitaro to catch onto her scheme.

"You did that as an excuse to get sake, didn't you?"

Kitsune paused for a second and looked up at Keitaro as she sipped a bit more of her sake.

"Can't blame a girl for trying, right? Don't blame me – blame the stupid rules of this hockey thing. With that, I might as well take as much as I can get now."

Skating away from the box, Keitaro met with the others and informed them about what had happened. In addition, he made a mental note to at least negotiate with Haruka about Kitsune and her drinking habits.

- - -

Looking around the rink, Keitaro curiously asked himself whether this was all just a sudden and convenient stroke of luck. Shinobu was capable of skating quite skilfully and Su possessed an almost mind-boggling amount of control and balance on the ice. Naru's skating was rough, but she was capable, at least, as was Kitsune. And besides them, there was still Haruka, Shirai, and Haitani.

Overall, it wasn't too bad.

Everything was alright in the world, right up until everybody in the rink heard Motoko scream. Again.

The young kendoka floundered helplessly on the ice as she tried – and failed rather miserably – to get back on her skates. All the while, Haruka frowned and tried yet again to go over the basics.

"What sort of _sport_ requires one to play on ice?!" Motoko demanded, trying again to get back up.

"Motoko, try to get on your feet," Haruka carefully instructed. "Move your skates…like that…do it slowly, and stay calm-!"

Motoko fell yet again. Shirai and Haitani tried to help, while Haruka sighed.

"…Motoko's almost unable to skate…" Haruka lamented rather sadly to Keitaro.

It was true. Keitaro watched as Shirai and Haitani were able to lift her on her skates. Spreading her arms, Motoko struggled to retain her balance, but was able to keep it. With that, Shirai gave Motoko a gentle push, just to help her along.

Motoko screamed. She fell to the ice. Again.

All the while, the most the residents could do was watch with brutal curiosity at the scene continued to unfold.

"Maybe she has tape on her skates, like Su from before?" Shinobu suggested.

"Maybe…check her skates" Haruka told the pair.

With Motoko already lying on the ice, Shirai and Haitani were able to do so. Lifting her skates up, they lightly ran a finger along the edge of the skates, feeling for the strip of scotch tape that might have been there.

The bespectacled pair looked at each other and then to the others, baffled.

"I…I don't think there's any tape on her skates" Haitani said, rather confused.

Silence filled the air as the facts registered.

"So…what does that mean?" Kitsune asked.

"…Motoko's _completely_ unable to skate?" Naru answered.

Despite what had happened, Motoko's face lit up with determination.

"No, I can do this! I must, for the sake of the inn and for the sake of all of us…" Motoko then stopped as she realized something. "Shirai…what are you doing?"

The residents realized only then that Shirai's face was bright red. He had a hand on Motoko's ankle from when he was checking for the tape. Currently, he was blushing bright red and was looking at…something. In particular, it was underneath Motoko's hakama.

"…dude! Stop looking!" Haitani urged, only to catch a glimpse as well.

"…I…can't…help it…" Shirai said, almost as if he was in a trance. His face then twisted into something like a drunken smile. "They're…_white_."

Motoko then caught on. She swiftly kicked Shirai and Haitani in the face with her free foot. Before anybody could register what was happening, Motoko was on her feet with her sword – which all the residents had somehow not noticed she was carrying until now – drawn and ready to strike.

"…hey, what'd you know? Motoko can skate" Su commented, noting how stable the kendoka was standing on the ice – a definite far cry from how she struggled just moments ago.

"The two of you…vile males! How dare you!" Motoko cried, as she raised her sword.

The normally frightening scene of Motoko summoning her ki for an attack suddenly didn't seem as much so as her foot slipped. She had barely moved her sword before she began to lose balance. Motoko tried desperately to balance herself, frantically moving her feet, to no avail.

"Get back!" Haruka tried to corral the residents back as Motoko swung her arms, along with her sword, in the air rather haphazardly.

Finally, Motoko's legs slipped backwards and she fell forward. Despite the danger, Keitaro rushed forward.

"Motoko!"

His hands reached for her. Motoko fell directly onto Keitaro, and he in turn, fell with his back onto the ice holding Motoko.

"…Urashima…" Motoko stared into Keitaro's face, mere centimetres from hers. For a moment, she couldn't believe how sacrificing Keitaro was. He had rushed in and put himself at risk – just to save her from falling on the ice.

"Are you okay?" Keitaro managed to groan.

Motoko was about to answer, when she and Keitaro realized something. Keitaro was lying on his back on the ice. Motoko was lying on top of him, her body against his.

His hands were holding onto her breasts.

For the umpteenth time, silence filled the air rather awkwardly. Motoko's concerned face slowly faded as she looked at Keitaro with a death glare. Before Keitaro could reply, another voice filled the air. It was louder, and certainly angrier.

"Keitaro, you _PERVERT_!"

Naru came skating in from the side at full speed. She decked Keitaro in the face with a low punch that sent him flying out from underneath Motoko and into the boards.

"Seriously, I just _can't_ believe you, Keitaro…" Naru said as she gave her knuckles a good crack. "First me, then Motoko…"

"Urashima-sempai?" Shinobu was concerned.

All Keitaro did was smile as he got on a knee.

"Don't worry, Shinobu, I'm fine!" he said, laughing.

Slowly, he got up on his feet. Half a second later, he almost fell, but was able to stay on his feet. Keitaro smile and nervously scratched the back of his head, as if proving he was at least partially okay.

"Hey, Keitaro's still got some HP!" Su commented rather disappointingly.

"Well, it seems like everybody's having fun here" a friendly voice said.

Looking for the source of it, Keitaro realized there was somebody at the bench watching them. The newcomer stepped out onto the ice, despite not having skates, but was still able to walk around. Keitaro recognized him - it was the lab coat-clad, Tokyo University professor of archaeology, Noriyasu Seta.

"Seta-san!" Naru greeted happily. The residents gathered around Seta as they greeted him kindly.

"So, you finally got here?" Haruka said as she skated up to greet Seta.

Seta looked Haruka up from top to bottom, noting in particular the skates she was wearing.

"So, you can still skate?" he said with a goofy smile. "See? I told you it would pay off, with all that figure-"

Before Seta was able to finish, he was already lying on the ice, courtesy of Haruka. The residents watched, but chose not to get involved, much to Keitaro's chagrin. It was just like at the start – perhaps nobody will ever know about where Haruka had learned to skate from.

"So, what're you here for, Seta?" Kitsune asked. "Are you gonna help us skate, or what?"

"Well, I was watching everybody for awhile, and most of you are just fine," Seta replied, getting back up to his feet as though nothing happened to him. "I'm actually here to help with the other part."

"Other part, Seta-san?" Shinobu asked, wondering what that was.

As the residents thought about it, they realized what he meant.

"Wait, do you mean the hockey?" Naru asked.

Seta nodded, but before they could ask questions, another newcomer stepped out onto the ice. Much to Keitaro and everybody else's surprise, the newcomer had to have been a hockey player.

The hockey player was short. Actually short was an understatement – the player was practically a midget. Keitaro knew the player was a girl, judging from the long braided blond hair extending out from the back of her helmet. Despite that, Keitaro could not help but notice how professional the young player looked. She was dressed head-to-toe in hockey equipment, no different from the Canadian and American players Keitaro had seen in the photos. Her blue, green, and white jersey was professional looking and had to have been from a good team.

In her hands, she held a hockey stick. Keitaro thought it was there for show, until the she dropped a puck from her glove. The short player scooped up the puck and suddenly wound up and fired. The tiny piece of rubber made a loud snap as it ricocheted off the boards down at the end of the rink.

Most of the residents clapped at the sudden show of skill. Keitaro, on the other hand, took some time before he realized who the short hockey player was.

"Hi, everybody!" the young American greeted as she took off her helmet.

"_Sarah?!_" cried the girls as they realized seconds after Keitaro who the hockey player was.

Somehow, the image of the ten year old foreigner dressed in hockey equipment seemed too much to take in.

"She's so cute!" Shinobu said rather rabidly as she skated alongside Sarah and examined her like a flashy new toy, much to Sarah's discomfort.

"When we were living in the United States for a while, she actually used to play on a hockey team for a short period of time and I used to coach a bit," Seta explained. "I heard from Haruka that everybody needed some help, so I might be able to give a hand."

Most of the residents crowded around Sarah, unable to resist poking at her and commenting how she looked when dressed up in hockey equipment. On the other hand, Keitaro had only a single thought.

"Hey, aren't you a little too short to be playing hockey, Sarah?" Keitaro jokingly said.

The young hockey player took offence to what Keitaro had said.

"Shut up! I'm not a midget you _dork_!" Sarah angrily shouted.

Sarah gave Keitaro a solid crosscheck to the gut with her hockey stick. He fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. All the while, Seta chuckled as he put a hand on Sarah's shoulder and addressed his adopted daughter.

"Please don't do that, Sarah, it's reminding me of how you got suspended."

"…suspended?" Naru weakly asked, wondering just what that could have possibly meant.

Seta laughed, patting Sarah on the back. "Yeah, she was a regular grinder when she played. She hit another player a little too hard one game, but those things happen, I guess."

The residents stared at Seta, rather confused from what he had just said. Keitaro, having barely recovered from the crosscheck got back up.

"Grinder? What's that?" he asked, not sure what it had meant.

"It's a hockey expression," Seta explained rather briefly. "Don't worry. When I finish with all of you, you'll know everything you need to know about understanding and playing hockey."

With that, Seta clasped his hands together and smiled with anticipation. Sarah and Haruka went off the ice for a moment as they brought in the hockey sticks and equipment.

"So, everybody grab a stick. Let's get started…"

- - -

Note:

If you've read the note at the start, I'll explain. First off – I can't skate. At all. Period.

I've went a few times, but each with the same dismal results. Therefore, I don't have the knowledge of perfecting or improving upon such a skill as ice skating. Now, this limits my ability to write for this chapter quite a lot. I can't accurately describe the finer points of learning to skate. In addition, I can say for sure that it's impossible to pick up skating so quickly on the first day first try like the residents are doing. Sure, some people can, but a lot can't, and I figure the residents will fall under that category.

Therefore, I have to leave realism out a bit and operate under a condition that the residents of Hinata Sou are competent enough (with the possible exception of Motoko, at the moment) to be able to adapt to skating and improve on it well enough within a short span of time. Realistically speaking, it's impossible, but for the sake of the story, I have to do it.

What I mean by that is that even though skating is an essential part of hockey, I want to focus on the hockey. I don't know the full details and workings behind skating, and quite frankly, even if I did, they wouldn't matter as much as the game itself – which I want to write about more.

So, in the end, there's one chapter for learning how to skate and the difficulties the residents face, but a lot more that relates to something very relevant for the story.

But of course, on one side, you'll have to admit – realism, in _Love Hina_? Who are we kidding? And this whole idea is as unrealistic as it gets, so learning to skate aside, I suppose it isn't all that bad.

Also, in addition, I have taken a few too many creative liberties, I would say. Having Keitaro, Shirai, Haitani, and Shinobu being able to skate beforehand, Sarah having once played hockey, etc – I know, it's a bit too much and comes almost out of nowhere. Again, it's for the story and to move it along. To begin playing hockey, it would be easier to have a few people who are at least familiar with it and can help teach it. An original idea of mine was to introduce original characters, but that had the potential to be even more contrived and unrealistic, so I brought in Seta and Sarah for that role.

So, if most of the things in this chapter seem way too contrived, I apologize.

Overall, the purpose of this chapter was to highlight the initial difficulties and incidents of getting used to the sport. Of course, there's the skating, and from there, there's playing hockey for the first time – which I will detail next chapter.

I have ideas for what to write, but it may take time to get them on the page. So, in the meantime, I hope this is enough.

So, until next time…whenever that may be.

Oh, and I should have said this, but I apologize about the long note. I got a little carried away. Then again, they may be getting longer in the future...


End file.
